WASHINGTON (TIP): The US labor market emerged surprisingly strong from the severe winter, with employers hiring at a brisk pace and the jobless rate holding near a five-year low.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 192,000 jobs last month after rising by 197,000 in February, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7 percent even though Americans flooded the labor market to hunt for work.

“This is a nice number, one of those Goldilocks numbers that is decent but not so good that it gets fears going about interest rates or the economy growing too quickly,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.